trials and therapy of a self taught cook

Banana Cream Tart

I love going home for the weekend for many reasons. One reason is that I can actually make a full size dessert without having to eat it myself for dinner for a week. I have a captive food audience, if you will. Odds are if you make a dessert in my house, it will be eaten and eaten quickly. However, the trade off of being home is horrible lighting for my photos. Since I’m cooking for more than just myself, I have to eat at a socially acceptable meal at a socially acceptable time. Meaning no dessert while there is still natural light. Don’t let the shadows in the picture stop you: this is a great recipe!

My only experience with banana cream pie prior to this was the banana cream pie blizzard from Dairy Queen. Now, I LOVE that blizzard, and I was worried the actual dessert might not live up to it. But this banana cream tart does not disappoint.

A few tips: Make sure to use a double layer of bananas. Because of poor planning, I only fit one layer in, and it definitely could have benefited from more banana flavor. This was first time to temper eggs, which seems intimidating but really isn’t.

For the Crust:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Center the baking rack in the oven.

In a large bowl, combine flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Scatter butter pieces over top. With a pastry cutter, work butter into flour mixture until pea size pieces are distributed. Stir in the egg yolk. Mix only until just combined. Put dough onto a cutting board and knead only to incorporate ingredients. Be careful not to overwork dough.

Butter a tart pan. Press the dough into the tart pan. Freeze for at least 30 minutes. Butter the shiny side of a pice of aluminum foil. Place butter side down on top of crust. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove aluminum foil. Bake for 3-5 additional minutes. Cool completely.

For the Custard:
In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the milk to a boil. In a large saucepan whisk yolks, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt together. Temper the egg mixture by adding a little of the warm milk to the egg mixture while whisking constantly. Add the remaining milk mixture while whisking constantly. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Whisk constantly for 1-2 minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat.

Whisk in vanilla extract. Let stand 5 minutes. Whisk in butter. Cool.

For the Sour Cream Topping:
In a large bowl, beat heavy cream with hand mixer on medium speed until soft peaks begin to form. Add powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in sour cream.

For the Pie:
Peel and slice the bananas. Whisk custard if needed.

Spread a fourth of the custard mixture over the bottom of the crust in a thin layer. Top with half of the banana slices. Top with custard. Top with another layer of bananas slices. Top with remaining custard. Top with sour cream topping.